You expect me to eat this?

I thought cats were supposed to be the finicky ones.  Aside from having an interest in mice, I always heard they turned up their nose when offered food they didn't like. Turns out Jersey is finicky as well.  Well, maybe finicky isn't the right word.  It's probably more appropriate to say she has discriminating tastes.

When Jersey was diagnosed we made a conscious decision to switch her to a Raw Diet.  We adopted the mantra of "meat, meat, meat" after having discovered that a good diet for a dog with lymphoma is one high in protein with no grain and no carbohydrates.  Apparently, cutting off the grains and carbos starves the cancer cells and retards their spread and growth. Proteins build the body up. A Raw Diet is one with meats, meat by products like hearts and gizzards and lots of fruits and vegetables which together, provide the appropriate balance of nutrients for optimal health.

There are many brands of natural foods which come in all kinds of different forms.  There's raw frozen, raw dehydrated, raw kibble, kibble supplemented with raw bits but a finite number of base ingredients - chicken, beef, turkey and lamb being the most popular ones.  One can also find venison, rabbit, duck and rarely a sardine or salmon mix.  Without getting into graphic detail, think of the maxim "I like sausage but don't need to see how it's made", it can be purchased in ground, burger patties, things that look like little flesh balls and compressed medalions.

It turns out Jersey likes fresh boiled chicken but absolutely turned her nose up at a raw formulated diet.  She will snarf up chicken from the supermarket but under no circumstance will she eat a delectable offering of a raw chicken pattie supplemented with all this stuff which is supposed to be good for her. She turns up her nose like a kid being told to eat the cauliflower on their plate.

Believe me, this stuff is expensive.  One can buy a package, open it up and try to feed it.  If it's rejected, the bag can't be returned.  It's raw food. The only choice is to buy another pack of a different brand or another flavor and try to get the dog to eat it.  The whole process can turn into an excersise of frustration for the Puppy Pappa who only has the best interests of his sick dog in mind.

Without dragging the story out any longer, we finally hit on as flavor Jersey likes.  It happens to be a little on the more expensive side (it figures) but she eats it.  It turns out she likes lamb.  The particular offering she is favoring comes in a package of 48 medalions.  Basically for a dog her size, she's supposed to get 10 little rounds of ground meat and vegetables daily.  This translates into three pound bag every four days.  Since this particular brand only comes in a three pound size, we're reduced to having to buy a couple of bags a week.  I can imagine the cost adding up very quickly.

Bottom line though, it seems a small price to pay for the chance to help Jersey achieve remission and buy her as much time as possible.